Restore My Name – The First CoAAG Theme

On 19 February 2010, Restore My Name – Slave Records and Genealogy Research, will kick-off this African-American themed carnival intended to be a gathering place for the community to share and learn about African-American genealogy.

This first CoAAG theme will deal with how records of slave ownership are handled by the genealogy researcher. Contributors will be asked to write a blog post (at their own blogs) on one or more of the following aspects:

What responsibilities are involved on the part of the researcher when locating names of slaves in a record?

Does it matter if the record(s) are related to your ancestral lines or not?

As a descendant of slave owners, have you ever been pressured by family not to discuss or post about records containing slave names?

As a descendant of slaves, have you been able to work with or even meet other researchers who are descendants of slave owners?

Have you ever performed a Random Act of Genealogical Kindness involving slave ownership records? Or were you on the receiving end of such kindness?

How To Participate

Submissions will be accepted starting today through 12 March 2010, 11:59 EST. Once you’ve created your blog post, use the blog carnival submission form to make sure it is included in the CoAAG post on 19 March 2010.

Future Hosts and Topics Needed!

We’re also in search of hosts and topics for future CoAAG carnivals so if you have an interest in hosting or a special topic to propose, please contact Luckie Daniels via Twitter (@OurGeorgiaRoots) or email GeneaBloggers at geneabloggers@gmail.com.

We’ve all witnessed the benefit yielded from coming together as a community to openly share our varying perspectives around slavery and its impacts to both past and present culture.

Let’s commit to keeping this very relevant (and healing) dialogue going and use it as a catalyst to continue to grow and learn.

About Thomas MacEntee

What happens when a “tech guy” with a love for history gets laid off during The Great Recession of 2008? You get Thomas MacEntee, a genealogy professional who’s also a blogger, educator, author, social media connector, online community builder and more.
Thomas was laid off after a 25-year career in the information technology field, so he started his own genealogy-related business called High Definition Genealogy. He also created an online community of over 3,000 family history bloggers known as GeneaBloggers. His most recent endeavor, Hack Genealogy, is an attempt to “re-purpose today’s technology for tomorrow’s genealogy.”
Thomas describes himself as a lifelong learner with a background in a multitude of topics who has finally figured out what he does best: teach, inspire, instigate, and serve as a curator and go-to-guy for concept nurturing and inspiration. Thomas is a big believer in success, and that we all succeed when we help each other find success.